When Jamie Heaslip reflects on the season when he emerged as the successor to
Brian O’Driscoll as Ireland captain, he is likely to identify the defining
moment as a decision he took last summer at his “little cottage” in the
suburbs of south Dublin.

Ready for take-off: Jamie Heaslip wants to do justice to the Ireland captaincyPhoto: GUINNESS

It was the moment when the Leinster No 8, whose thunderous ball-carrying charges had earned a place in the Lions Test team on the tour of South Africa in 2009, decided to “reset” his career by stripping his home of almost all the vestiges of his success with both his province and Ireland.

“I took down all my rugby memorabilia and jerseys, bar my actual Ireland caps from the house and put it into storage,” Heaslip recalled. “I wanted to reset [myself]. Half the reason why I am not a fan of rugby right now is that I am too involved. I can’t wait for the day to read opinions in newspapers and be able to talk about it with my mates over a drink but I am too involved in it now.

“I used to find that I would get angry but I asked myself, ‘What’s the point? Why am I wasting energy on that?’

“That’s why I took down stuff from around the house. I don’t need to see it. Rugby is when I get there with Leinster and Ireland and do my job. While it has to be part of your lifestyle in terms of diet and recovery, I try to go there, do my work and come back and relax. There will be a great time when I can put it all up and have a ‘man cave’ but right now, I am all about now.”

The desire to remove himself from any off-field distractions and appears to have yielded a rich reward.

Having captained Leinster on the odd occasion during Leo Cullen’s absence, Heaslip was handed his “childhood dream” of captaining Ireland last autumn when senior leaders such as O’Driscoll, Paul O’Connell and Rory Best were all unavailable because of injury.

In a period of transition for Ireland, in part forced by injuries and in part as the so-called “golden generation” of O’Driscoll, O’Connell, D’Arcy, O’Gara etc enter the twilight of their careers, Heaslip’s leadership captured the mood and brought the best out of the young guns.

Last week Ireland coach Declan Kidney signalled that Heaslip’s appointment was no longer temporary. Even with O’Driscoll, Ireland’s leader since 2004, fit again, Kidney took one of the biggest decisions of his tenure standing the great man down in favour of Heaslip.

Heaslip’s concern now is about doing justice to the role and he intends to follow O’Driscoll’s mantra of leading from the front.

“The way I have always been is to lead by example,” said Heaslip, speaking at the launch of Guinness Class, a promotion that gives fans the ultimate rugby experience, jetting fans and their mates off to a RBS Six Nations fixture of their choice.

“For me, actions speak louder than words. I am by no means perfect and I make mistakes all over the place but always try to learn from them. No one has the guide book, you just give it a crack and see how you go.

“When I got the call [to be captain for the November series], I gave Brian a call that night. He is of that kind of school as well. I also chatted to Leo Cullen. I am lucky, I have had great guys captain me throughout my career. It is a humbling experience to lead that quality of players out on the pitch.”

If Ireland thrive under Heaslip over the course of the next seven weeks, there is a school of thought gathering weight that he could asked to undertake honour of captaining the Lions on their tour of Australia this summer.

With a strong Welsh and English contingent in the management team, many feel head coach Warren Gatland is likely to opt for an Irish captain and it could boil down to a choice between Heaslip and O’Driscoll.

Gatland has already name checked Heaslip as a potential captain. The Leinsterman revealed the pair go back a long way.

“To hear Warren say such sentences about me was humbling, but it was also funny because I remember kicking him in the shins when I was about 12 while watching my brother train [Graham] at Connacht,” Heaslip said. “I used to ask him all sorts of questions, I probably got on his nerves to be honest, but he was great.

“As far as the Lions captaincy is concerned, I can’t really control that. All I can do is produce good form for Leinster and Ireland.”

The first hurdle, against Wales at the Millennium Stadium, could well define Ireland’s entire campaign, with England and France to come in Dublin. Wales have won their last three games against Kidney’s side, including the World Cup quarter-final in 2011 and in Dublin last season on the way to their Grand Slam.

Heaslip insists, however, that Ireland, who finished their autumn campaign with a thrilling victory over Argentina, have since adapted their game and will not experience any hangover from those defeats.

“We are scoring tries but we are keeping teams in games at times by stupid mistakes. That’s why we have talked about narrowing our focus on what we are doing and have real clarity on how we want to defend and attack. You can’t etch in stone where you are going to be but everyone can know how we want to play.”

Jamie Heaslip is pictured launching Guinness Class at Twickenham. Win a trip on private jet to an RBS Six Nations game atfacebook.com/GuinnessGB.